The death toll from devastating wildfires in Greece rose to 80 on Wednesday after a firestorm roared through coastal villages surrounding Athens earlier in the week.
The big picture: Officials sifting through charred wreckage have found that these blazes were so swift-moving and burning so hot that many victims had virtually no chance of outrunning them. Some victims were found still hugging each other, according to news reports.
Visitors are being ordered out of Yosemite Valley to avoid unhealthy air quality and other risks posed by the Ferguson Fire that is raging nearby.
What's new: The two-week old, 38,000-acre Ferguson Fire is inching closer to Yosemite, the nation's most popular national park. The closure will stay in effect until Sunday as firefighters work to control a fire that's only 25% contained. A heat wave that is roasting California, along with much of the Southwest, shows no signs of abating, and is making firefighting efforts challenging.
A body of liquid water stretching at least 20 kilometers, or 12.4 miles, across may exist under the icy surface of Mars' southern pole, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal Science.
Why it matters: The findings could put to rest the long-running question of whether liquid water still exists on the red planet, or if it all disappeared long ago. This question has major ramifications for the planet's habitability. For more than 30 years, the presence of water has been one of Mars' deepest mysteries, since it is a key building block for life.
More than 3,000 people are still waiting to be rescued in Laos after a dam collapse from heavy rain stranded them on Monday, Reuters reports.
By the numbers: Around 19 people were found dead, local media reported, and roughly 3,000 have already been rescued. Rescue teams from Thailand and China were heading into the area on Wednesday to help get the remaining people out. The U.N. reported that there are "34 missing, 1,494 evacuated and 11,777 people in 357 villages affected."
